Tube Anemone

This species can be found from the Western Mediterranean to the Northeast Atlantic, as far as Brittany.

Behind

this character

The tube anemone is similar to sea anemone. At its top end, it has more than 200 tentacles arranged in rings around its mouth.

There are two different types of tentacles, in different colours. The longer ones are around the outside, with the shorter ones closer to the mouth.

To feed, the tube anemone uses its long tentacles to capture zooplankton. They then pass the food along to its shorter inner tentacles and on to the mouth.

Tube anemone can be found up to 40 m deep, on shifting beds (of sand or mud) in relatively calm waters. It has difficulty with direct sunlight, so it prefers to settle near the entrance to caves, at the base of slopes or in sea grass.

The tube anemone protects itself by building a mucus tube that hardens at the touch of water and that takes deep root in the sediment. When necessary, it can retract its whole body into the tube.

« The anemone's tube is made of a web of stinging filaments with antibacterial properties. »